We brainstorm + strategize + design + create.
Projects
New academic center at a world class university
Tasks: 1) Analyze similar academic centers at other universities; 2) Interview faculty, staff, and students to understand their interest in a new center; 3) Develop concept paper + funding pitch.
Successes: 1) Re-formulated concept from a stand-alone center to a university-wide initiative that was more favorable to existing students, faculty, staff; 2) Developed staffing plan and job descriptions for new initiative; 3) Identified external partners including, thought leaders, companies, funders.
Lessons: 1) Don't call something "new" unless you're certain that no one else at your organization is already doing it; 2) Start with what your staff wants and needs, not with what you think funders will want; 3) If your organization is committed to social justice, make sure that commitment is explicitly stated in everything you do.
Climate adaptation roadmap
Tasks: 1) Identify a city’s neighborhoods and populations most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change; 2) Lead a community engagement process that results in citizens directly expressing their concerns and needs to government officials about storms, flooding, and rising temperatures; 3) Improve government-community relations.
Successes: 1) Established strong working relationships between residents, businesses, neighborhood-based organizations, and activist coalitions using the common goal of “preparedness”; 2) Helped communities develop their own protocols for navigating climate-related crises with and without government assistance; 3) Include equity and justice in a city’s climate adaptation roadmap.
Lessons: 1) Planning for climate related crises is a great way to build unlikely coalitions; 2) Communities directly impacted by climate disaster have the best and most relevant ideas for how to be prepared for the next storm; 3) Governments can/should/will expedite capital projects in the name of climate preparedness.
Stakeholder Management for new transportation infrastructure
Tasks: 1) Ensure compliance with all public engagement protocols of the National Environmental Policy Act; 2) Conduct landscape analysis of stakeholders to be impacted by new infrastructure; 3) Design, build, and facilitate “community councils” to serve as feedback bodies; 4) Incorporate community feedback into Environmental Impact Study; 5) Ensure community buy-in on the project.
Successes: 1) Designed and executed educational workshops to teach community members about NEPA, the EIS process, and the true potential of community engagement; 2) Fostered community buy-in as the first project of this agency to provide educational opportunities to community members about the processes thereby creating a lasting knowledge base among community leaders; 3) Pushed agency personnel to carefully consider how they address community concerns related to gentrification, displacement, and policing.
Lessons: 1) EIS is a long and arduous process that regular people know little about; 2) Teaching people something new that they can use again is an excellent offering when trying to build buy-in; 3) Pushing government officials to address issues that they believe aren’t “part of their job,” will ultimately be better for communities and society because actually, everything is connected. New infrastructure is connected to gentrification is connected to displacement of communities of color is connected to criminalizing poverty.
Community engagement for community center redesign
Tasks: 1) Collect community feedback on usefulness of existing community center, its programs, its services; 2) Collect community feedback on needs and wants for the community center; 3) Build cordial and effective working relationships between city agencies with ownership and supervision of community center and community residents who will ultimately use it.
Successes: 1) Raised private funds to design and implement participatory action research trainings in the community; 2) Worked with city agencies to directly fund community-based organizations (CBOs) to conduct participatory action research in their communities regarding needs and wants related to community center; 3) Built tremendous amount of good will by directly supporting CBOs with education, training, and funds.
Lessons: 1) Navigating tensions between government intention and community need is extremely difficult; 2) Empowering communities to express their needs and to be civically engaged is long-term work; 3) Resourcing communities directly always has the best outcomes.
Mass bail out direct community action
Tasks: 1) Demonstrate to policymakers that detaining pretrial people on cash bail is morally corrupt, illogical, and a threat to public safety; 2) Create a replicable process for similar mass bail out direct actions; 3) Empower grassroots organizers to educate their communities about the history of bail + bail reform.
Successes: 1) Generated overwhelming public support for ending cash bail; 2) Demonstrated that providing the basics - food, water, clean clothes, phone, and transportation immediately upon release nearly guarantees successful reentry; 3) Provided funding to local, grassroots community groups to coordinate post-release support services.
Lessons: 1) For any justice project to be successful, it must be led by people directly impacted by the criminal legal system; 2) Negative media must be countered aggressively, unapologetically, and immediately; 3) Organizations must not hesitate to push back on funders when "funding priorities" and human rights don't align.
Influence strategy
Tasks: 1) Develop an influence strategy for a gender justice organization; 2) Co-create a new communications strategy; 3) Facilitate organization-wide retreats and executive staff and board meetings.
Successes: 1) Outlined a plan for the organization to exert its own influence to advance gender justice as opposed to seeking celebrity influencers; 2) Drafted sample reports, press releases, and social media posts to provide staff with bold, clear, unapologetic language for on-going communications; 3) Helped staff articulate the direct connections between gender justice and indigenous rights, workers rights, and economic, climate, and racial justice.
Lessons: 1) Everyone has a very different definition of influence; 2) Funders will respond to public pressure; 3) Not all organizations understand the importance of intersectionality.*
*Intersectionality is the intersections between social and political identities to create unique modes of discrimination and oppression.
Strategic framework
Tasks: 1) Design series of collaborative working sessions for staff & board of a non-profit to recommit to vision and mission statements, develop shared values, principles, and priorities; 2) Assign pre-and post-session work to staff, collect feedback on content and experience; 3) Develop a final strategic framework document + visual incorporating feedback from everyone.
Successes: 1) Created safe and comfortable space for staff and board to discuss tensions and debate differences without imposition of power dynamic; 2) Unearthed foundational issues at organization that need addressing in order to successful move from strategic framework to strategic plan; 3) Inspire staff to examine alignment between personal and professional values, principles, priorities.
Lessons: 1) When leadership and staff do not have shared goals, align goals before starting project vs. using project to align goals; 2) Lack of alignment between personal and professional goals of its staff can stunt an organization’s growth; 3) Acknowledging tensions, toxicities, and power dynamics goes a long way in building trust.
Executive search
Tasks: 1) Co-create an easy-to-read job description with the client. Ensure that the job description is true to the position and to the needs of the organization. Ensure that the candidate requirements are relevant to and reasonable for the role; 2) Design and implement recruiting strategy to cast a wide but curated net for candidates. Utilize personalized and emails; individual phone calls; social media posts; and posts in relevant journals and publications; 3) Oversee application review, conduct screenings, and develop interview questions, policies, procedures. Build tracking mechanism for client to easily review applicants and to enter feedback.
Successes: 1) Developed a streamlined and transparent process from recruitment to review to interviews to selection including tailored communication with each applicant; 2) Reached over 5,000 potential candidates and curated a short list of 4 exceptionally qualified people; 3) Helped the organization to hire a fantastic new leader!
Lessons: 1) Offer multiple options for interview questions, policies, procedures at the start of the process instead of at the end and remain flexible to changes; 2) Share sample profiles and resumes with client when developing job description to help them better articulate their needs, wants, and deal-breakers; 3) Ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding timeline and dates/times/lengths of interviews.
Organizational restructuring
Tasks: 1) Update articles of incorporation, articles of organization, and operating agreements for a conglomerate consisting of 5 non-profit and 2 for-profit entities; 2) Support the merger of the non-profit entities and the consolidation of the for-profit entities through education of staff and board, meeting facilitation, and coordination of legal services; 3) Assist CEO in managing workload related to layoffs and new hires to ensure proper staffing of new organizational structure.
Successes: 1) Obtained unanimous buy-in from staff and board on language of new agreements; 2) Built a team of legal and organizational experts to expedite the merger process; 3) Coached the CEO on successful management of board relationships during the transition phase.
Lessons: 1) Build the team needed to get the job done from the start of the restructuring process; 2) Don’t assume legal barriers when there likely are none (agreements have more power than regulations in most non-profit and businesses cases); 3) Ensure that leadership has the support needed to stay the course.